Quantum Leap (2022)

Raymond Lee makes a decent first impression as the new Leaper, physicist Ben Song. ... The new “Leap” does have the added element of a connection to Beckett and his hologram companion, Al (the late Dean Stockwell), but that serialized story seems destined to drag on endlessly unless and until Bakula reprises his role.

While it has modernised the story (there are smartphones, although, handily, these are left behind during time travel), it feels like a relic of an earlier age. So many recent reboots have felt pointless; this hasn’t escaped that trap, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t enjoying it.

Unfortunately, the relationship between agent and handler is less fascinating than in the original. ... That said, this “Leap” is also less dependent on that core relationship. ... The story in the pilot (the only episode screened for critics) is diverting enough for an episode with a lot of heavy lifting to do. But every episode is a new opportunity for the show to sink or swim on its own merits. In other words: look before you “Leap.”

That earnestness can be a double-edge sword, of course, and at times Quantum Leap can veer into the cheesy territory, but that cheese is mostly kept in check thanks to the main cast.

NBC’s Quantum Leap reboot has a charming star and slick action scenes, but gets bogged down by corny dialogue and dead-end mysteries.

While the premise stood out at the time – representing the kind of unorthodox swing the late NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff liked to take – its formula of using the past as a window into the present feels decidedly less distinctive now, and balancing that with the serialized component feels a trifle strained at first blush.

The new Quantum Leap could end up being decent, but it needs to elevate itself above being a standard dark NBC procedural and take itself a lot less seriously.